CAMERON IMMORTAL: Red Valley
by Alex Lecorn
Summary: An AU of pretty much the entire series, though it could be a while before there are any major changes. This story centers around Cameron and starts with her meeting the Connors in 1999.
1. Dramatis Personae

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**  
**-Red Valley-**  
**Dramatis Personae**

-Cameron (Phillips); Female Cyborg, Age 1404

-Sarah Connor (Reese); Female Human, Age 33

-John Connor (Reese); Male Human, Age 15

-Cromartie; Male Cyborg: Series 888 Terminator Infiltrator Model 207, Age Unknown

-Terissa Dyson; Female Human, Age 30

-Daniel 'Danny' Dyson; Male Human, Age 8


	2. Chapter 1

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-Red Valley-**

**Chapter One**

**Monday, September 6 1999 (07:13)**

**Red Valley High School**

**C**AMERON SAT IN A DESK/CHAIR THE DESIGN OF WHICH seemed to have become the standard for every school in America. Most of the class was already seated; the teacher was standing in front of the room writing something or other on the chalk board, Cameron hadn't taken the time to figure out what it was yet.

The bell rang. The teacher turned and started giving the 'It's the start of a new year, this is what I expect of you' speech. Nothing Cameron hadn't heard about a thousand times already. She briefly considered figuring out just how many times she had heard it in her long lifetime, but decided to try and find John 'Reese' instead. When she'd hacked into the schools records yesterday he had been enrolled in this class, so unless there was a last minute change he should be here... Cameron glanced around and saw six students in the class who were potential physical matches for John Connor. One of them was sitting next to her. After a moment Cameron had come up with a daring plan of action.

"Hey," she whispered as she lend over, "what's your name?"

The young man turned and looked at her for a moment. "John." he said.

_And with only one John enrolled it this class we have a winner! _Cameron gave him a smile. "Cameron," she said back.

"And no talking while I'm talking," the teacher said to the two of them in the middle of his speech, causing half the room to look at them. John looked down at his desk in embarrassment, then glanced back at Cameron for a few moments before turning his attention back to the teacher, who at this point had continued on with his speech._  
_

After the class ended Cameron caught up with John in the hallways. "Have you been here long," she asked. "I'm new here."

"Oh, ah, so am I."

"I used to live in Sunnydale, it's a small town about two hours away from Los Angeles," Cameron offered. "The local High School blew up at the end of my freshmen year. Right in the middle of the Senior Graduation Ceremony. Some kind of a gas leak or something." Actually, Cameron had been one of the graduating seniors, and the explosion was caused not by a gas leak, but the several hundred pounds of explosives in the school's library. But Cameron didn't think that now was the time to go into _that_.

The story seemed to have gotten John's attention; it took him a few moments to realize that he had arrived at his locker. "So, ah, is that why you and your family moved here?" he asked as he opened his locker.

"It was a contributing factor. My dad just got a job selling tractors. What dose yours do?" Cameron asked changing the subject.

"Ah," John quickly searched for something that would end this particular line of questioning, "He sells insurance."

"Really. What kind?"

_Dammit_, John thought. "The boring kind." he replied with a shrug.

Cameron laughed. "Is there any other kind?" she asked.

John found himself smiling back. "Probably not. Look," he said after a moment, "I should go to my next class so..."

Cameron leaned against the lockers. "So, see you later?"

"Ah, sure," John said with a shrug.

"Well then, goodbye, Mr," Cameron paused, "Hey, what's your last name?"

"Ah, Reese."

"Mr. Reese." she said with a nod, then walked away.

**09:12**

Upon entering her third period computer class Cameron discovered to her delight that she shared it with Mr. John 'Reese'. _His schedule must have been changed. _Coming up behind him she saw that he had hacked into the school's mainframe and was reading her file. _Well, I certainly seem to have made an impression._ Cameron silently moved forward until she stood right behind him, then leaned forward and said, "Well, well, we have been busy."

John jumped about half a foot in the air, and if Cameron hadn't straightened and retreated a step, the back of his head probably would have collided with her face. Recovering, John turned in his chair to face a smirking Cameron while wishing his heart would stop beating so fast.

"So you decided to read my file," she said as she went over to a computer near John's and sat down. "The problem is that those kind of things never tell you the important stuff. Sure, I got a B- in my freshman math class, but dose it at any point mention who my favorite member of The Beatles is?" Cameron said shaking her head ruefully.

"Probable not," John said quickly closing out of the screen.

"So, I'm guessing you're good with computers?"

John shrugged. "I suppose."

Cameron shook her head. "Personal, I have no idea how this verdammt idiotisch thing works."

John stared at her blankly.

"Another thing that file of yours probable neglected to mention is that I speak fluent German. Anyway, maybe we could get together after school and you could teach me how to use these bloody things."

John shook his head. "I really can't, I'm sorry."

"Oh."

"No, I'd really like to, I just, I usually have to help my mom and..." John said quickly.

"It's okay," Cameron said cutting him off. She gave him a small smile, then turned to face her computer. She was fairly sure that he was telling the truth about wanting to spend time with her, but he probably had standing orders from his mother to come home directly from school, which was about what Cameron had expected. Baring some unexpected upheaval, it would probably take some time to gain John's trust, and then even more time to gain Sarah's._ At which point I'll have to reveal to them what I really am, which will probably blow all that hard work straight to a fiery hell._

**15:01**

**Somewhere near the outskirts of Red Valley, New Mexico**

John walked up to his new house and quickly opened the front door, then stepped inside. He deposited his jacket on a nearby chair, then walked down the hall and into his room. In a way that only a teenager could he collapsed onto his bed, then grabbed his CD player and headphones and started listening to music at a volume that was almost certainly too loud.

A few moments later his mother entered the room and, after looking at him for a moment, went over to stand next to his bed; picking up a stray piece of clothing as she went. John took off his headphones and looked at her.

"This is a hick town mom."

Sarah shrugged. "We've been in worse places. A lot worse." She walked over to the dresser on the other side of the bed.

"Well my clothes are all wrong," John said siting up. "I need like different shirts. You know everyone here wears boots," he said turning to face his mother who was putting the clothes she had gathered away. "Like cowboy boots. I hate cowboy boots."

Sarah put a blanked on John's bed. "I'll see what I can do," she said absentmindedly as she walked over to the window and parted the curtains.

"And their computers are from like the freakin 50s."

Sarah quickly turned to face her son. "Their computers? I thought we agreed."

Realizing his mistake, John tried to undo the damage. "It's not me fault, they changed my classes."

Sarah took a step forward. She did not look at all happy. "The last thing I need is for you to get caught hacking."

"I'm not hacking mom," John quickly replied. "I know the rules, they're like written on the inside of my eyeballs, alright."

They practically glared at each other for a moment, before John sighed and looked down. Sarah's expression softened. _Maybe I'm being too hard on him._ She bent down until her eyes were level with his.

"Hey," she said softly. John looked up at her and she smiled slightly. "You meet any pretty girls?" she asked.

John grinned and found his thoughts moving to a certain brunette who new nothing of computer and spook German. Not that he would ever admit this to his mother. "No," he said shaking his head. "I'm telling you this is a hick town."

Sarah grinned as well, then leaned even further forward. "Come on," she said teasingly.

John smiled, but refused to say anything more.

After a moment Sarah stood and went to leave the room. Just as she reached the door John suddenly called out, "Hey, have you ever heard of a town called Sunnydale?"

Sarah though for a moment. "Yeah, it's a small town a little ways out from LA. Near Santa Barbara. Why?"

John shrugged. "No reason."

Sarah considered pressing for an answer, but chose against it. She turned and left while John laid down on his bed and put his headphones back on.

* * *

This is something that I have been thinking about for some time. This is the first story in what could be a very long series that, as the title suggests, would center around Cameron. While at the moment the only noticeable difference is an occasional change in dialog how this varies from the series will become much more apparent in the next few chapters, though the plot will closely mirror that of the series for a while.

For those who objected to Cameron swearing in Chinese because it was too 'Firefly', I've changed it so she swears in German.


	3. Chapter 2

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-Red Valley-

* * *

**

The next chapter.

olischulu: This might eventually become Jameron, I'm not sure. Depends on how things go.

Note: At several points in this chapter Cameron dose/says/thinks thing that don't really make any sense. Keep with it, I know where I'm going with this and a lot of it will be explained fairly soon**,** next two or three chapters.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Tuesday, September 7 1999 (07:12)**

**Red Valley High School**

The next day Cameron walked into her first period science class and saw John already seated in the same chair from yesterday. Moving forward she sat down in her old desk and placed her bag on the floor next to it.

"I lied to you yesterday," John said suddenly. Cameron looked at him with an expression that was part curious, part confused.

"My dad doesn't sell insurance. He's dead. He was a soldier. He died on a mission."

"I'm sorry," Cameron said.

John shrugged. "It's alright. My mom was pregnant with me when it happened. I never even knew him. So it's alright," John paused for a moment. "My mom, she's kind of uptight. Actually no, she's really uptight. She likes me to come home and hang out with her and that kind of thing, you know?" John shrugged again. "I'm all she's got."

Cameron looked at him for a moment. "I understand. Thank you for explaining." She tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't come up with anything, so instead she smiled, then turned to face the front of the room. _He told me the truth about his father. This is good, I'm making progress. Wait a sec... _died before he was born on a mission, a soldier, _No one ever knew who John Connor's father was. I suspected that Kyle Reese might be the father, the dates certainly matched up, but other then that I've never had any evidence. But John was telling the truth this time, and what he said dose fit. Certainly doesn't match with anyone else she knew when he would have been conceived.  
_

At that moment the bell rang and the classroom door opened. A man walked in and went over to the teacher's desk.

"Mr. Ferguson is ill today," he placed a briefcase on the desk. "My name is Cromartie."

"Is that your only name, like Madonna?" one of the students asked, causing much of the rest of the class to laugh.

"Madonna? Why? No," Even more laughter. Normally Cameron might have joined in, but she was not in a very light mood at the moment. In fact her mood had been getting progressively darker since Mr. Cromartie had first entered the room. The moment she had set her eyes on him it seemed like every hair on the back of her neck stood up all at once. Everything about him, the way he moved, talked, was just, _wrong. _False. Not _human_.

Cromartie sat down. "Let's take attendance then."

Cameron focused and reached out to his mind to see what he was feeling, maybe even what he was thinking. Instead all she saw was numbers and symbols, moving in an orderly, logical fashion. Her blood ran cold. A Terminator. She had only encountered one of them since developing certain new 'abilities', but what she had felt of his mind was enough for her to identify this one now. Though, it was interesting how different her own mind worked now compared to others of her kind... Cameron mentally shook herself. _Now is _not_ the time for a philosophical discussion._

It must have tracked down John, it was the only reason Cameron could think of why a terminator would be here. And it wouldn't have been hard to do, Sarah Connor had done a very bad job of covering her tracks after leaving Nebraska.

While Cromartie continued to take attendance, Cameron reached down and picked up her bag, placing it on her desk. Opening it she removed a small makeup kit and, upon seeing that no one was at all interested in her activities, removed two clips and their corresponding Beretta 9mm handgun from the bag and slipped them into the pocket of her sweater. Then she reached her hand back in and closed it around the handle of a .44 Magnum.

"Cameron Phillips," Cromartie called out. Cameron decided to answer him with a cold glare and see if he noticed. "Cameron?" Apparently not.

"Here," she said, then stood, moving the bag's straps onto her right shoulder with her left hand all the while keeping her right hand inside the bag and on her gun. "But not for long, I need to go use the restroom," Cameron started slowly walking towards the front of the classroom. Cromartie looked for a moment like he might object to this, but then apparently decided that he didn't care. _And the fact that he's not putting me in my place is just more proof that he is defiantly not a substitute teacher._

"Reese," Cromartie continued. "Do we have a John Reese?" Cameron noticed that he seamed to be griping something by his right leg. John raised his hand. "Excellent," Cromartie said, then stood and drew a gun.

Cameron took that moment to draw her own revolver, throw her bag at Cromartie, then empty all six rounds into his chest and head, causing him to fall back against the chalk board. The room was filled with a stunned silence as everyone seamed frozen by the unexpected shot out in the front of the room. Cameron threw the Magnum at Cromartie's head for good measure, then pulled out her Beretta.

"Mr. Connor," she said calmly, "This might be a good time to leave," John quickly stood and almost ran for the door at the front of the room. He wasn't the only one. Cameron's words seamed to have woken the entire class from its trance as they all stood and started moving as quickly as they could. However, as they were all moving to the door at the back of the class in order to get as far away from the two gun wielding cyborgs as possible, Cameron wasn't particularly concerned about this.

Cromartie stood back up and raised his gun. Cameron quickly fired three shots, the first two going into her opponent's gun, knocking it out of his hand and rendering it useless. The third went into his head next to the left eye. At this point John was at the door. As he ran out into the hallway Cameron took a step back and grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it with all her might into Cromartie's chest, knocking him to the ground. She then turned and ran out of the room and after John. She saw to her relief that he was going towards the exit that was closest to the parking lot.

The sound of gunfire had caused several classroom doors to open so people could stick their heads out to see what was going on. _Idiots!_ Cameron waved her gun at them which had the desired affect of casing them to quickly retreat back into their rooms. Cameron then reached with her left hand into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out the keys to her truck. At this point she had caught up with John.

"Hey," she said grabbing his left arm, then pressing the keys into his hand. "Silver and black Ford truck with a black grill on the front. Get in passenger side, turn on, open drive side door. Now!" She sent him on his way with a small shove, then turned around to see Cromartie coming towards them. Cameron quickly raised her gun and started firing shots into his chest and face. Seeing that this was only somewhat slowing him down, Cameron turned and started sprinting after John, still firing at Cromartie and trying to aim for his eyes. She had emptied the clip and had one round left in the chamber by the time she reached the exit. Still running, she removed the spent clip and inserted a new one. As her shooting seemed to be achieving nothing Cameron decided to focus on reaching the truck.

As she entered the parking lot Cameron saw that John had already got in on the truck's passenger side and then she heard him turn the engine on. He leaned over and opened the driver side door just has she reached the vehicle. Since the driver side was opposite her Cameron, without slowing, leaped up onto the side of the truck bed, jumped to the other side, then swung herself down into the driver seat and slammed the door closed. The entire feat had taken less than two seconds.

Cameron put the truck into reverse, backed it up, then put it into drive and turned the vehicle so that it was facing the nearest exit. She put her foot on the gas and quickly started moving forward, just as Cromartie leaped up onto the back bumper. Cameron and John turned in their seats to face him. As John reached for the gun Cameron had tossed onto the dashboard upon entering the truck, Cameron _focused_ and reached out to Cromartie. He was half way through swinging his leg over the tailgate when it was as if a large, invisible, hand came and knocked him to the ground.

Stunned by the terminator falling off for no apparent reason, it took John a few moments to realize that they had left the parking lot and were driving down one of the town's streets. After a moment John reached forward and opened the glove compartment depositing the gun inside. Then he sat back and let the reality of it all wash over him. _They're back. Somehow they're back. But _how_, how can they be back, we changed it, changed the future,_ John forced himself to calm down. He turned his head to look at Cameron, then said, "You're from the future aren't you?"

Cameron nodded, her eyes never leaving the road. "Mid 2027 to be exact."

"You're a resistance soldier?" John asked leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Cameron hesitated. This was the moment she had been dreading. She briefly considered lying, but dismissed the idea. She couldn't hid what she was forever, and if she tried it would make them trust her even less. "Not exactly," she said finally, not yet quite willing to reveal herself.

"What do you mean," John said looking at her curiously.

_Oh hell. _"I'm a terminator, a cyborg. Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton and all that fun stuff." Cameron said. She considered opening herself to him to see what his emotional state was, but decided against it. It would be an unnecessary invasion of his privacy, and besides she decided suddenly, she probable didn't want to know anyway.

John's eyes widened and he subconsciously moved as far away from her as the confines of the truck's cab would allow. Cameron resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and tried to ignore the twinge of sadness she felt. "So you were reprogrammed by the resistance?"

Cameron finally turned her head to look at him and, despite herself, grinned. "Do you think you'd still be breathing if I wasn't?"

John didn't seam very comforted by this. _Dammit girl, now is _not_ the time for that twisted sense of humor of yours._

Cameron looked back at the road. "I was sent back by Future You to protect you and your mother, and damn that sentence was freakin weird." John looked somewhat calmer, but not as much as she'd hoped.

"How do I know that your telling the truth, that your not just lying to me or something?" he asked.

Cameron resisted the temptation to point out once again the fact that he wasn't dead yet. "I'm going to have to say it, aren't I," she muttered to herself. Finally she turned to face him and with a blank expression and in a monotone, almost bored voice, said, "Come with me if you want to live," She then turned back to face the road. "I was instructed to say that to you when I reveled what I truly was. Partly because if I reveled myself it would probably mean you were in some sort of life threatening situation and I would have to say something to that effect anyway, but mainly because it would make you feel more inclined to trust me due to the fact that that's what Kyle Reese said to your mother, and what my predecessor said to you. Personal, I think the line is a bit overly dramatic, if rather to the point, and was hoping to avoid actually having to say it, but..."

John considered this for a moment. He had assumed, on looking back, that that was why 'Uncle Bob' had said the same thing to him that his mother had told him Kyle said to her. It made sense, so Cameron's explanation didn't surprise him, and the fact that she knew the phrase did make him fell inclined to trust her, that, and the fact that even now that he knew what she was and such subterfuge was pointless, she still acted so, _human_. At the same time, however, this fact made another part of him very distrustful of her, thinking that she was trying to manipulating him somehow. _Why else would she be doing it, there's no reason._

Cameron watched John out of the corner of eye. Just by looking at him she could tell that he was still debating weather or not to believe her.

Finale she spoke. "You can trust me John. I promise."

_Oh what the hell. If she's out to get me then I probably don't stand a chance anyway. Besides, she's right, if she wanted me dead she could have killed me by now, or left me for Cromartie. _"Alright."

**07:28**

Cromartie stood in the shadows near the main school building and watched the police. Four cruisers and a total of 13 officers were on the school grounds, most of them inside the actual building.

He had failed in his first attempt. To a human this would be infuriating, or at the very least annoying, but to Cromartie it was irrelevant. He would try again. Sooner or later he would succeed. Probably sooner. The girl was unexpected. She was the reason he failed. Again, for a human this would have been cause for anger, but to the terminator it was simply another variable. He would be ready for her next time, she would not surprise him again.

The only thing that came close to troubling him was what happened on the truck. One moment he had been securely on the back, starting to make his way forward, the next he was falling off. Try as he might, he could not figure out what caused him to fall, or be knocked, off. It did not mater he finally decided. Whatever the unknown variable was, it was unlikely it would be a problem again.

Cromartie noticed a police officer moving in his direction. It was unlikely that he had been spotted, there would have been more than one of them and they would have had their weapons drawn. The man continued walking in his direction and Cromartie drew back further and became completely still. The officer walked a little bit passed Cromartie and stood with his back to him. He then took out a cigarette and lit it. While the man smoked, Cromartie sneaked up behind him, reached out, then garbed him and snapped his neck before he had a chance to do anything. Cromartie quickly withdrew to his hiding place, taking the cop's body with him. After quickly looking around to make sure no one had seen anything, Cromartie relieve the man of his side arm in order to replace the one Cameron Phillips had destroyed.

He would have to leave here. It would not be long before the other police officers noticed that one of their own was missing, at which point they would start searching the area for him. Cromartie studied the groping of rocks next to the school grounds, looking for an avenue of escape that would allow him to leave unnoticed by the law enforcement officers. He found one, then noticed a human female looking over the top of a large boulder with a pair of binoculars.

**Subject Identified: Sarah Connor (94.6% Certainty)**

**Action: Capture**

Cromartie carefully moved forward in order to avoid being seen by either the police or Sarah Connor. He went around some of the rocks until he came to a place that had him less then nine feet from the female Connor and where he was blocked from view by anyone at the school. Sarah had still not noticed him, she was completely focused on the happenings in the school. Cromartie quickly moved forward and garbed her by the top of her shirt and threw her back almost six feet. He then moved forward to stand over her, the rocks now hiding them from the school. Cromartie bent down and grabbed her by the neck while she struggled uselessly.

"Sarah Connor," he said evenly.

"Were is he!" she all but screamed in reply. "What have you done with him."

Cromartie tilted his head to the side ever so slightly and continued to stare at her impassively.

"You don't know?" Sarah whispered as she drew her gun. "You don't know," she repeated almost smiling and bring the gun up to the side of her head. Cromartie quickly grabbed the weapon from her. It appeared that killing the earlier cop for his weapon had been unnecessary.

Cromartie couldn't have cared less.

He regarded Sarah for a moment. "Killing yourself is the best strategy," he told her. "If you're alive, I can use you against him."

_Over my dead body,_ Sarah thought. Which, she reminded herself, would probably end up being the general idea.

Just then her cellphone rang and Cromartie quickly grabbed it with his free hand.

"John?" he said using Sarah's voice.

"_Mom!"_ came the reply from the other end. _"Mom."_

"I tried to call you."

"_Yeah, well I've been trying to call you. Listen to me, okay. They're back! They're back."_

"John, slow down. Where are you?"

"_I'm going to the house."_

"I'll be right there."

"_Mom!"_

"I love you John. Stay right there." Cromartie ended the call and put Sarah's phone away. He then tightened his grip on her neck until Sarah passed out. He held on to her for a few more seconds, then released her and stood. He put her gun in the waistband of his pants (the cop's was in the front right pocket), put her cellphone in his other pocket, then bent down and lifted Sarah's unconscious body. Throwing her over his shoulder he turned and started walking in the direction of his hidden car.

It appeared that he would be having John Connor sooner. And probably that troublesome girl too. Cromartie almost wanted to smile at the thought.

* * *

And that concludes chapter two. Please tell me what you think, it motivates me to write faster.


	4. Chapter 3

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-Red Valley-

* * *

**

kaotic2: Thank you for your review. This is going to stay close to the series for what happened in the first season at least. After that it will start to become more AU. (Through there will be some smaller changes to what happened in the first season as well.) As for Jameron, while I am a fan of it, and plan to go there eventually, I'm afraid that you are all going to have to endure the terrible and hated Riley Dawson first. In all truthfulness, I don't hate her nearly as much as most of you seam to. No I don't want her to get John in the end, but I think she deserved better than to die the way she did and when she did. The fact is, I have plans for her beyond what happened to her in the series. (Though none that have her stay romantically involved with John.) Jesse, however, can go find a hole and die.

olischulu: While your right, that would be interesting, it would also be almost impossible to maintain for any length of time. Especially since John already knows.

And to everyone else who reviewed, thank you very much. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

And now, for the next installment...

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Tuesday, September 7 1999 (07:56)**

**The 'Reese' Residence**

Cromartie walked into the living room and dumped a semiconscious Sarah into an armchair. He then grabbed her neck with one hand and began to tighten his grip. Just then he heard a sound at the door. "John?" he called out in Sarah's voice. The door opened revealing a figure with a gray sweatshirt that had the hood pulled up obscuring his face. "John?" Cromartie called again, moving back to crouch behind Sarah's chair, one of his hands still around her neck. "Are you okay?"

"Mom?" the figure said moving farther into the room.

**Voice Analysis: John Connor (97.8% Positive)**

**Action: Terminate**

"John," Sarah said groggily trying to sit up.

"Mom!"

Cromartie let go of Sarah as he moved forward and raised his gun. He fired three shots into John's chest causing him to fall back.

"John! NO!" Sarah screamed standing up. "JOHN!"

Cromartie fired another three shots, then walked forward and knelt down next to the body. He turned it over, and found Cameron grinning up at him. "Neat trick, you like?" she said in John's voice. Then she brought her legs up and kicked Cromartie in the chest, sending him flying back into a wall. She got to her feet, tore off the sweatshirt and said in her own voice, "You ruined my top you bastard."

Cromartie got back up. The girl was a Terminator. She had to be, it was the only explanation. And she had caught him off guard. Again. Cromartie moved forward to engage her when he was struck by multiple gunshots. He turned and saw Sarah standing with a shotgun aimed at him. Just in time to receive a round house kick to the face from Cameron. He staggered back, and Cameron continued with another kick to the center of his chest. Cameron moved forward and grabbed his shirt to throw him into another wall. He grabbed her arm before she could and the two of them started exchanging blows.

Sarah watched as the two machines started throwing each other through the walls of her house, waiting for an opening to shot Cromartie again. She noticed a commotion by the back door and wheeled around shotgun raised, only to come face to face with her son. Stepping forward she grabbed him angrily and yelled, "Next time you do what you're trained to do. Next time you run!" she yelled. She shoved him towards the back door. "Now go."

Cameron found herself being thrown through yet a another wall. She quickly stood up again and took a moment to look around as Cromartie stalked towards her. _Ha, this must be John's room_. At this point Cromartie had reached her and she blocked a punch to her face with her left forearm, then delivered a hit of her own followed quickly with a kick to his chest. She noticed the Connors escaping out the back door and stepped up her attack so that Cromartie wouldn't. Cromartie shoved Cameron hard knocking her to the ground, but not before she grabbed the front of his shirt taking him down with her.

Cameron hit the floor of John's room with Cromartie coming down on top of her a moment latter. However the weight of two cyborgs falling on it within the space of a second proved to be to much for the floor as it caved in dropping the two combatants into the basement below.

_Dammit, must I crash through every signal barrier in this blasted house?_ Cameron thought to herself. She twisted around in mid fall so that when the two of them landed she was on top. Looking around quickly she noticed what looked like a live power cable hanging from the ceiling, or at least what was left of it. Grabbing it she tried to bring the sparking end down to the side of Cromartie's face. He grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her. Practically snarling, Cameron brought up her other hand and managed to force the cable to the side of his neck. As electricity coursed through his body Cromartie began twitching as his systems started overloading and random signals were sent to different parts of his body. After a few moments the power surges made his CPU to shut down causing him go limp.

Cameron stood and looked at him for a moment, trying to think of something she could do to permanently disable him before he came back online in 120 seconds. However, before she got very far she heard her truck start up. _The Connors. _She quickly decided to leave Cromartie as he was. If she was separated from them now finding Sarah and John again would be a very difficult task, especially after the events of today. Running out of the basement, and then out of the house she saw the vehicle starting to move away. Running as quickly as she could she was able to get close enough to jump onto the back. Going forward she reached the cab. John opened his door and moved over as Cameron climbed around the side of the truck. Cameron entered the cab and closed the door behind her.

"Did you stop him?" Sarah asked.

Cameron shook her head. "Unfortunately not. I was only able to temporarily disable him. 120 seconds and he'll come back online," Cameron looked out the front window, then turned her head to look at Sarah again. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Haven't gotten that far yet," Sarah responded.

"Oh, brilliant."

**Wednesday, September 8 1999 (05:19)**

**An Abandoned Warehouse**

After spending the rest of the day and most of the night driving Sarah had found a vacant building for them to rest the few hours left until dawn. After they were settled John went into the cab of the truck to sleep. Cameron told Sarah she was going to go repair herself. She was currently siting topless on a makeshift stool in an out of the way corner of the building. Beside her was a metal bowl with a pair of pliers and five deformed bullets in it. The pliers were just for show. A way to explain how she got the bullets out if anyone (Sarah) asked. She had rubbed it over one of her wounds so that her blood would be on it, then put it in the bowl.

She moved her right hand so that it was in front of her last wound. She concentrated, then softly spoke a few words in Latin. The bullet inside her wiggled free, then came out. Cameron rotated her hand so that her palm was facing up, the bullet hovering a few inches above it. After a moment she released it and the bullet fell into the center of her hand. She dropped it in the bowl with the others, then reached for the pile of clothes on her other side and put her bra back on, followed by a new shirt, one without bullet holes in it. Then she dropped her hands into her lap and just sat for a minute.

_I wonder how they're doing,_ she thought to herself. _Buffy and Giles and Xander and the rest. I'm sure that they're going to be okay without me and all, but still... _They had been sad to see her go. The fact that she had announced to them that she would be leaving and probably could not contact any of them for a while, possibly several years, just under a month after Angel left for Los Angeles didn't help. _And here I am, left people who I know and like, love even, (and I'm sure that the feelings were, _are _mutual), to join two people who barely tolerate my existence. _Cameron shook her head and smiled weakly._ Well, I've been accused of being a lot of things, but I'm pretty sure a social climber was never one of 'em. _Cameron rubbed her forehead. _Look this was necessary and you know it. Going with them is the best chance to stop Judgment Day, stop Skynet. And if god forbid we fail, you and what's left of the world are going to need John to be _alive_ and ready if humanity is going to survive. If you hadn't come that terminator would have killed him._ Cameron shook her head. _While all that's true, it doesn't mean I have to like it._

Cameron finally stood and picked up the bowl. She walked over to where Sarah was siting next to a fire studding a map while facing the back of the truck. Cameron went and put the bowl on the vehicle's lowered tailgate.

"Is there any sort of reason why you had to wander off alone to do that?" Sarah asked without looking up.

Cameron turned to face her. "_Well_, I assumed that you didn't want to see me pulling bullets out of my chest while I had my shirt off." she said with a hint of sarcasm.

Sarah inclined her head slightly. "Fair enough."

"What," Cameron said taking a step forward, "Don't you trust me?"

Sarah snorted. "Don't push it, girlie," She stood and started folding up the map. "We should be good here for two more hours. Hit the border at lunchtime."

Smarting at being called 'girlie', Cameron decided to start being a little snarky. "Which border are we talking about, the Mexican or Canadian?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "We're in southern New Mexico, were do you think..." she stopped in mid sentence when she saw Cameron's grin and realized that the other woman was just putting her on. Sarah glared at her and hoped Cameron would get the message.

She didn't. "And besides, 'lunchtime' is such an imprecise time frame. Haven't you ever read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" Cameron closed her eyes for a moment while she searching for the appropriate memory file. Finding it she opened her eye again and quoted, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime _doubly_ so."

Fighting the desire to punch the girl in the face, the knowledge that she could never win in a fight like that was the only thing that held Sarah back. "_Whatever! _Sometime between twelve and one thirty!" she snapped, fervently wishing that she had been able to leave the female cyborg back at the house. Sarah seriously considered yelling something or other at Cameron, but decided that it would achieve nothing. Besides, she had several questions that needed answers.

After taking a moment to calm down, Sarah asked, "What year are you from?"

Realizing that this would probable be a very long conversation Cameron went and sat down in Sarah's old spot. "2027."

"How long have you been looking for us?"

Cameron reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. "That's kind of complicated," She took a somewhat unnecessary deep breath. "You see, the resistance technicians who programed the TDT, the Temporal Displacement Transporter, they really fucked up. They were supposed to send my back to June 22, 1999. I ended up arriving June 22, _18_99."

"You mean," Sarah paused as the full wight of what Cameron had said hit her. "You mean that you've been wandering around unsupervised for a _century_!"

Cameron cocked an eyebrow at her. "You make it sound like I'm an unruly two year old."

"No," Sarah said taking a step forward, "You're a machine built for the sole purpose of killing people."

_Well that didn't take long to come up._ "Look," Cameron said. "I haven't spent the last hundred years going on killing sprees. Up until now one of my main concerns was to avoid any unwanted attention. Which is something that dead and/or missing people tend to attract," Cameron ignored the fact that she also believed killing without very good reason to be morally wrong because she didn't think that Sarah would believe that particular argument from her at the moment. _Maybe someday though._ "I wont tell you that I've never killed before, because I have, but only when it was absolutely necessary. When someone posed an immediate threat to myself or others and I had no other options."

"Alright, so what have you been doing?" Sarah asked after a moment.

Cameron shrugged. "Like I sort of told John, I spent some time in Sunnydale before coming here."

"Sort off?"

"I incorporated it into my cover story. And before that, I've just spent most of my time going from here to there, doing whatever,"

"And the rest of the time?" Cameron shrugged. "No," Sarah said shaking her head. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that, girlie."

Cameron gave Sarah a very hard stare. "Ms. Connor," Cameron said in a very stiff and formal voice as she stood up. "I do not make a habit of handing out my life story to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who asks for it."

"Well I'm not every Tom, Dick, and Harry," Sarah retorted.

"No," Cameron agreed shaking her head. "You are someone who _barely_ tolerates my existence as it is. Until I believe that I can trust you, that you can trust _me_, or it comes to the point where the situation requires me to tell you whether I want to or not, you and John are going to have to accept the fact that there are things about me _you do not know_. Important things," Cameron paused for a moment. "I promise you Sarah, it's nothing that could be a threat to you or John. And certainly nothing that involves Skynet, Judgment Day, or anything like that. I swear to you, in those areas I will always be completely open with the two of you."

Sarah considered this for a moment. She didn't like it, but realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere at the moment and should move on. _But this is definitely _not_ over yet. _"Alright, fine. What about the war, Skynet."

"Skynet comes online April 19, 2011. Causes Judgment Day two days later, April 21."

"And Miles Dyson?"

Cameron shook her head. "Somebody else creates it."

"Who?" Sarah asked moving forward to stand a foot away from Cameron.

Cameron shook her head again and sat back down. "I don't know."

"You don't know who builds the computer that blows up the world?" Sarah said incredulously.

"Unfortunately not. Either John, that is to say future John (damn that still sounds weird), doesn't know himself, or he didn't think it was important to program me with that information."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "What about the files you got from Skynet?"

Cameron looked down on the ground. "When one of us is captured and reprogrammed the resistance wipes most of our memory, it helps the reprogramming stick," Cameron looked back up at Sarah. "I may not know who, but I have an idea as to the where and when. I can probably give us a place to start, if you want to try and stop it."

Sarah looked at Cameron for a moment. "And what about you? Do you want to stop it?"

"Believe it or not, yes. Very much."

Sarah nodded. "Alright," She looked at her watch. "Look, I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me and John up in about an hour and a half so that we can get moving, okay?"

Cameron turned her head so that she was staring into the fire. "Alright."

Sarah went over to the truck and got in the front passenger side, John was already in the driver's seat. After taking a moment to adjust her seat, Sarah lad back and closed her eyes.

Despite the fact that her eyes where still closed when Cameron came to wake her and John ninety five minutes later, between the events of the day and her conversation with Cameron that night she had been unable to get any sleep. What she didn't notice, though Cameron did (even if she didn't say anything), was that neither had John.

While the two of them got ready, Cameron started making modifications to the truck. She started by removing the grill on the front, then opened up the hood and started to change the engine. Or at least to change it more. While she did this Sarah talked to John who was still in the front set.

"Hey," she said with a small smile.

John stared at the ground. "Why is this happening again?" he asked after a moment. His voice sounded, strained.

Sarah struggled to find the right words to explain it, to comfort him. She failed on both counts. "I don't know."

"You stopped it," John said looking at her.

"I guess I didn't," Sarah said as she turned and walked away. John got out of the truck and followed her.

"But you can!" he said. "You changed the future, you just didn't change it enough. So we can do it again."

"I don't know John,"

"I can't keep running," John replied. "I can't," His mother turned to face him. "I'm not who they think I am, some messiah."

"You don't know that," Sarah countered. She walked past him to go get something in the bed of the truck.

"I know," John said continuing to follow his mother. "I can't lead an army," He was almost pleading now. "Maybe you can, but that will never be me. So you have to stop it. Please," They stood looking at each other. Sarah found herself realizing just how young he truly was. Sarah looked down for a moment. Could she deny him this, could she go on without even trying.

The first time they had only postponed it, but they had been rushed. She had gone to kill Dyson without truly thinking about it, and then they had all fond themselves going off to destroy Cyberdyne that very night. If they were careful this time, methodical... And besides, their new terminator friend had said that while she didn't know who, she had some idea about the where and when. That she could probable find a place to start. And thinking of Miles, Sarah realized that she also had a place to start.

"Alright," Sarah said looking back at her son. She still wasn't sure about this. But they had to at least _try_.

"Alright what?" John asked cautiously.

Sarah hugged him. "I'll stop it," she whispered in his ear. She took a step back. "I'll stop it," She then walked past him and over to Cameron who had just finished with the truck while eavesdropping on John and Sarah's conversation. "We're not going to Mexico."

Cameron slammed the truck's hood down, then turned to face Sarah. "So I've heard," she managed to say neutrally. "Where are we going instead?"

"To find Skynet," Sarah replied, then walked off to make the last preparations for their departure.

Cameron grinned for a moment, then suddenly frowned as she thought back to what Sarah had just said. "Ah, do you care to be a bit more specific?" she called out. "I'm not really sure that 'to fine Skynet' is a viable destination."

* * *

And that concludes chapter three.

To those of you who haven't figured it out yet, this is sort of a crossover with Buff the Vampire Slayer. The reason why this isn't in the crossover section is that the Buffyverse dose not yet have any real influence on how this goes, though I do plan to bring the two together in future stories of the Cameron Immortal series. I might even do a few prequel stories about Cameron's time in Sunnydale. As you also may have noticed Cameron can do magic, how that's possible will be explained later.

There could potentially be a whole variety of stories set before TSCC. (Though probably not.) Having her present for the entire 20th century means that I could make her involved in anything that happened during that time, through I would have to be careful not to turn her into a Forest Gump. There could also be a lot of crossovers. Once again, as long as the story was set during the 20th century and it could be made to fit within this story, I could make an AU were Cameron was involved. (Through I would obviously have to be **very** careful about how I went about it and how many stories I decided to incorporate.) The only other crossover that I am sure of is one that would be a very important part of Cameron's past and critical to how she developed the way she did, both mentally and _**physically**_. (Not to mention how a terminator could be able to do magic.) Through it will be a while before I reveal what that crossover is.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think about this chapter as well as the insanity before and after it.


	5. Chapter 4

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-Red Valley-

* * *

**

JDH: She's not. Cameron's been around for a long time and traveled all over the world. She's gained things from various cultures, it's just that for the moment that's only been reflected in her swearing. She probably curses in French and Russian too, I just haven't shown it yet. Still, I understand why you mentioned this.

Witchy much: Because Cromartie's body would have to be taken with them. And Sarah or John would want to know why he keeled over for no apparent reason. Whatever they did they would probably want to remove his chip as soon as possible just to make sure he doesn't come back. At which point they would want to know how his his chip could be crushed while it was still in his skull. And while they most likely wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Cameron is a witch, it would make them more likely to question things in the future. And as Cameron want's to keep the fact that she can do magic a secret this would be bad. (Also, it would make thinks too easy.)

hk-mp5kpdw: Thank you for pointing this out. I've noticed this particular problem with my writing and have gotten better at catching it, but I still miss some things.

And to everyone else who reviewed, thank you.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Wednesday, September 8 1999 (10:17)**

**A gas station somewhere in eastern Arizona  
**

Cameron stood next to the truck filling the tank with gas while Sarah went into the convenience store to buy supplies. John walked up to her and held out the small bag of tortilla chips he was holding. "Chip?"

Cameron looked at the bag, then shook her head. "No thank you." Finished, she removed the nozzle from the tank, then turned and put it back in its place on the side of the gas pump. While she did this John went and sat on the truck's back bumper. Cameron looked at him, then walked over and sat down on his left side. "We need to talk. There are things about what I am, about the way I behaved around you at school, that you need to understand."

John shook his head. "It's alright, I get it. You needed to get close to me. It's just the way your," he paused for a moment, "programed."

"No, it isn't," Cameron said. She thought for a moment, then asked, "Did you hear the conversation me and your mother had last night?" John looked down at the ground. "You heard it, good. It will save time explaining. Like I said, I was sent back one hundred years earlier than I should have been. The time I spent between then and now, it changed me. I've learned, grown as an, individual. I am no longer bound by programing, be it yours of Skynet's. I have freewill. Me saving you, joining you and your mother, I did it because _I_ wanted to."

"And I have emotions. They don't work exactly the same as yours, but they're there none the less. The way I behaved at school, it wasn't an act. That's who I am. Very little of what I said and did was a lie."

"What," John asked sarcastically, "like pretending to be human?"

The corners of Cameron's mouth twitched. "I never claimed to be human John, you came to that conclusion all by yourself," she said teasingly. "And trust me, assuming that someone is human just because that's what they appear to be is a lot less reliable then most people think," John rolled his eyes.

"Alright," Cameron said looking up at the sky for a moment before looking back at John. "Lies I've told you. Obviously I don't have a father who sells tractors. The closest thing I have to a parent is Skynet, which is something I really wish I could forget, so moving on. I'm actually very good with computers, I just told you that so we would have an excuse to spend time together. But I'm pretty sure that it was obvious that that was my main reason for telling you at the time, so..." Cameron shrugged.

"And as I told your mother last night, the thing about Sunnydale was partly true. The _truth_ is that I moved to Sunnydale in early March of '97, came in half way through the school year as a sophomore. I left about a month after senior graduation."

"So wait," John said as he did the math, "You were at the graduation ceremony where the school blow up?"

Cameron nodded. "Even have the singed diploma to prove it."

"And was it really caused by a gas leak?" John asked hesitantly.

Cameron studied him thoughtfully for a moment, trying to deiced how much, if anything, to tell him. "No, it wasn't," she said slowly. And before he could speak she added, "And no, I'm not going to tell you what really happened. At least, not today."

"But you might someday?"

Cameron nodded. "I hope so," They sat in silence for a minute before Cameron stood, then reached into the bag John was holding and took out a chip. She popped it into her mouth, then made a face. "You do realize that those things taste like salted cardboard?" John shrugged. Shaking her head Cameron walked around him and make her way to the driver's side door. When she was half way there John turned and called her name. Cameron stopped and looked at him curiously.

"Who's your favorite member of The Beatles?" he asked.

Cameron grinned. "Ringo Starr," She then turned and got into the drivers set. Sarah had finished shopping some time ago and had been standing several feet away watching her son the the cyborg interact. She walked up to John.

"Let's go."

**Thursday, September 9 1999 (20:18)**

**The Dyson Residence, somewhere near Los Angeles**

The door bell rang. Danny walked down the hallway of his house playing with his Game Boy. "Mom, pizza's here," No answer. "Mom, the pizza," Danny shook his head. _What's taking her so long._ He opened the front door, and found himself face to face with Sarah Connor and two other people. One of them was a boy in his mid teens who Danny guessed was Sarah's son John, Danny wasn't quite sure; he looked a lot older now. The other was a pretty girl about the same age who Danny didn't recognize.

"Mom," he said again in a very different tone of voice. He turned his head at the sound of footsteps and saw his mother coming towards him. Tarissa Dyson put her arm around her son and looked up at the people standing in her doorway, then froze.

"_You__!_"

"We need to talk about Miles, Tarissa," Sarah said stepping forward.

Tarissa looked at her son. "Danny go to your room. Right now." She looked back at Sarah. "How dare you come here."

"I know what they told you," Sarah said. "but it didn't happen that way."

"Get the hell out of here. Now!"

"It didn't happen that way!"

Tarissa stormed away, with Sarah, John, and Cameron following closely behind her. She entered the kitchen and reached for a phone on the wall, but Sarah grabbed her arm before she could touch it. "I can't let you do that."

"Let go!" Tarissa yelled pulling her arm free.

"Listen to me! I didn't kill Miles. Alright, I didn't do it. I would never. Miles was a hero."

"Then why are you here?" Tarissa asked, her voice quivering.

_This could take time to explain._ Cameron thought. _Time we may not have._ She stepped forward. "She's here because," Cameron paused for a moment while everyone turned to look at her, "**We're back**," As she said this she increased the illumination of her optical sensors, giving herself the appearance of having glowing blue eyes. She also changed her voice so that it was deeper and sounded mechanical. Like what you would expect from a robot in a science fiction movie. She then turned and left the room.

Tarissa stared at Cameron's retreating form for a moment, then turned and started walking towards her living room. "You told me there would be no more machines." She sat on the arm rest of a couch.

Sarah came and stood next to her. "It's happening again. Everything we fought to stop. Miles' work at Cyberdyne is the only link we have. Is there anyone anywhere who's shown an interest in his work? Anyone he told, someone he forgot?"

Tarissa shook her head. "There's nobody, It's all gone. You destroyed it all. You and Miles destroyed," She paused. "You destroyed _everything_,"

Cameron returned to the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to leave. Cromartie's found us." Sarah and John exchanged glances, then went into the kitchen, followed by Tarissa. They could here the sound of dogs barking in the distance. Sarah turned to face Tarissa.

"Help me," she pleaded. "Help my son."

They looked at each other, then Tarissa nodded. "Alright."

"We need to barrow a car," Cameron said.

Tarissa nodded again. "Come with me," She turned and led them through the house until they came to a door. Tarissa opened it to reveal a garage with two cars in it. "The one on the right has a first aid kit in it," She almost smiled. "Knowing you I'm betting that's a selling point."

"Thank you," Sarah said.

"Just go."

As Sarah and John made there way to the indicated car Cameron hesitated for a moment. "Go and join your son in his room," she said to Tarissa. "Cromartie, the machine that's after us, isn't interested in the two of you. Once were gone he'll leave, you'll be safe," She then turned and walked quickly towards the car. As Sarah and John were in the two front seats she got in the back. Sarah put the car in reverse and drove backwards crashing through the garage door, and right into Cromartie, sending him flying back a several feet. Changing gears Sarah drove the car forward as Cromartie stood and sprayed the vehicle with bullets from a machine gun.

Cameron quickly but quietly began muttering under her breath, trying to cast a defensive spell around the car that she hoped would protect them from the bullets. Before she could complete it through several rounds ripped through Sarah's right shoulder causing her to cry out in pain. She was gasping loudly, but somehow managed to remain in control of the car. Cameron finished the spell and noticed that through Cromartie was still firing none of the bullets seamed to be hitting the them.

Seeing that they had past the truck Cameron pulled out its remote locker watched Cromartie chase them. When he was right next to the truck Cameron pushed the button to unlock the vehicle, then to set off its alarm. The truck's engine to exploded flinging Cromartie back several feet. By the time he had gotten back up they were gone.

They drove for several tense minutes, John leaning over with a piece of cloth pressed against his mother's wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. When Sarah saw a store that she thought looked promising she drove up to it and stopped in the middle of the parking lot.

"Bandages, rubbing alcohol," she said to John.

"Mom, you need a doctor."

"Go! We'll find cover out back," As John left the car Sarah tried to turn to Cameron who was still in the back, but stopped when this made the pain in her shoulder worse, and said, "Get the first aid kit under the seat," Then she drove out behind the store and saw a large building that she though she could get the car into. She stopped outside the entrance and Cameron, still holding the first aid kit, got out and forced the metal door up so that Sarah could drive inside.

Leaving the door open, Cameron ran to the car and helped Sarah out of it and over to a table. Sarah got onto the table and laid down on her left side with her back facing Cameron. "Get it done before he gets back," Sarah instructed. Cameron nodded, then realized that Sarah couldn't see her and got out a pair of scissors which she used to cut away the clothing that covered Sarah's wound. Seeing that all the bullets appeared to have gone straight through Sarah's shoulder and out the other side, Cameron put the scissors down and moved her right hand so that the palm was hovering an inch away form Sarah's wound. Quietly, so that Sarah would not hear, she muttered an incantation. "_Sana vulnus,"_ A faint blue white light appeared between Sarah's shoulder and Cameron's hand as the bleeding slowed considerably and some of the more severe damage repaired itself.

Sarah noticed the pain lessening and decided that she must be becoming delirious.

Cameron moved her hand away and removed the needle and thread from the first aid kit. She then began using them to knit Sarah's skin back together. After a moment Sarah spoke. "We can't keep running," she whispered. "I'll lose my boy. He'll leave me. He'll leave me," A few moments latter she lost consciousness.

When Sarah awoke several hours later she found herself in the frond passenger seat of the car with a heavily bandaged shoulder. Looking around she noticed that daylight was streaming through the windows of the building they were in. Seeing that she was awake John and Cameron walked over to the car.

"What time is it," Sarah asked.

"7:52," Cameron answered.

"How you felling," John asked.

"Better,"

"Good," Cameron said. "We need to leave. It's not safe to stay here very long."

"Any suggestions?" Sarah though back to what Cameron had said about having an idea when and where Skynet would be created. "Somewhere where we could continue trying to prevent Skynet's being built."

Cameron and John exchanged glances. "Sort of," Cameron said slowly. "Though it's not so much where as _when_."

Sarah looked at the two of them for a moment, then shook her head. "You've lost me completely."

Cameron nodded. "I know. Let me explain. General Connor sent a man, a scientist, back to 1959 with orders to help with the design and construction of certain buildings so that he could built TDTs into them, so that those of us in the past could return to the future if necessary. I don't know where all of them are, but I do know the location of some of them. The closest is in the vault of a bank just a few miles from here, in LA. I think we should go there and jump to the year 2007."

Sarah sat up straight, ignoring the pain this caused in her shoulder. "You want to time travel into the _future?_" she hissed. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

John steeped forward. "I know it sounds insane, but I think it might be our best chance."

"You two have discussed this?" John nodded. Sarah slowly leaned back and looked at Cameron. "Alright girlie, convince me."

"When I was sent back I had orders to do one of two things. If the two of you decided to run then I was to stay with you and protect you from any terminator or government agency that might come after you. Just about any threat that might present itself really. If, however, you decided to fight I was to take you to a TDT and send us to 2007."

"And how were you support to convince me?"

Cameron hesitated. "Actually, I wasn't. I was just to take you there and do it. By the time you realized what was going on it would be to late. However, I decided some time ago that you should have a say in the matter, so..."

"You can do that? Go against orders?" _If she can, then it's a disturbing thought. _Cameron shrugged. "Will, I'm sure that you've had time to prepare reasons for us to go through with this, so continue."

Cameron nodded. "Firstly, there's the fact that nothing is going to happen until then. The events that led up to Skynet's creation, they don't start occurring until late 2007, early 2008, at the earliest. Also, after it sends us forward the TDT will self destruct. It'll look to everyone else as if we blew ourselves up, so we won't have to worry about an FBI manhunt anymore. Or Skynet terminators sent back to kill us."

Sarah thought about this for a while. Finally she spoke. "Alright, I get the part about throwing everyone off our trail, but why do we have to go so far forward? Why not just travel a few months, then spent the intervening time preparing?"

"Because, the more time that pases, the more likely it becomes that we'll be found. If we do as I suggested, then we can settle down and almost immediately start going after Skynet. We could accomplish something before having to go back on the run," It was half true. There was another, greater reason why she wanted to go so far forward, but Cameron didn't want to say what it was. Not in front of John. "Look, I'm not saying that there aren't a lot of problems with this, but I do think that this is the best course of action," She suddenly gave a sly grin. "Which I suppose could be taken as an indicator of just how screwed we really are."

Sarah had come to a decision. She really didn't like Cameron's sense of humor. Granted, it wasn't a particularly important decision, but at this point Sarah would take whatever certainty she could get.

Looking at the machine-girl Sarah saw that she looked calm, certain. As if she truly believed that this was the best course of action to take in order to stop Skynet. But whether or not this was an accurate indication of what was really going through whatever pasted for the terminator's brain was another question entirely. Sarah's gaze turned to her son. He looked a little uncertain and slightly afraid, but at the same time very determined.

_What the hell._ "Alright, let's do it."

* * *

I'm thinking that the next chapter will be the last for this story. The next story in this series will be called The Turk and it will encompass the rest of the first season. It will not follow the story as closely as this one did and I plan to have at least one encounter with a character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Also, I would like to know if anyone knows if there is a free online translation program I can use. One that shows you how you would **say** something in another language. Most of the ones I've found only show you how words are spelled in said language, which is okay for something like Spanish because their alphabet is the same as ours, but for Greek or Roman or especially Chinese or some other such language, they're not very useful for writing dialogue. I managed to find one, but it only translates one word at a time. Which when your trying to write entire sentences isn't very helpful because you can't be sure how good the grammar/syntax is.

Anyway, please review.


	6. Chapter 5

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-Red Valley-**

**Chapter Five**

**Friday, September 10 1999 (11:31)**

**Security Trust of Los Angeles**

While Cameron had wanted to wait a few days for Sarah's shoulder to heal some before they went to the bank, both John and Sarah decided that it would be best to make the time jump as soon as possible, to which Cameron was forced to reluctantly agree. Seeing as she was the only one who knew where they were going Cameron drove. She parked the car across the street from the bank and they all got out.

"So," John said as they walked across the street. "Were exactly is this time machine hidden?"

"In the bank's vault, in a safety deposit box." Cameron answered.

"How did your guy pull that off?"

"He helped build the bank, remember? He built the thing into the wall. It's not really a safety deposit box, the panel covering it just makes it look like one."

"Alright," Sarah said stopping in front of the bank doors, "Here's a question, just how are we going to get into the vault?"

Cameron's face broke into a wicked grin. "That's the fun part," She moved past Sarah and pushed the door open so that she could walked inside. Sarah and John exchanged glances, then followed her in. Cameron walked up to a security guard standing in the middle of the room with his back to her and grabbed his gun from its holster, then pushed him so that he fell to the floor. "Everybody on the ground, now!" Several people started screaming, but everyone in the room quickly complied. After a moment most of them fell silent.

Cameron walked over to one of the tellers, gun still raised. "The keys to the safety deposit boxes please," The teller just stared at her as if in shock. "Today, if at all possible!" Cameron said sharply, raising the gun even higher. "And tell your friend keeling down there that pushing repeatedly or holding down the silent alarm isn't going to make the cops come any faster."

The teller got a set of keys out of a drawer and led the threesome down several corridors until they reached a metal door blocking a hallway with the open vault door set along the right wall. The teller unlocked the door and opened it letting Cameron and the others in. The four of them went over to the vault's entrance and Cameron turned to face the teller while John and Sarah walked into the vault. She held out her hand and said, "Give me the keys,"

Once the teller handed them to her Cameron followed Sarah and John into the vault, then turned to look at the teller again. "Close the door and lock us in. After that, and if you don't want to end up dead this is very important, leave." The teller pushed the large metal door closed, then turned the wheel on the outside. After a moment several bars slide into place locking the door.

"Why was it so important that she leave," Sarah asked as she looked around the vault. The room was shaped like a cross with panels lining all the walls from floor to ceiling. The three sections that didn't have the door as part of their wall each had a silver metal table in them, in fact Sarah noticed that everything in the room seamed to be made of gleaming silver metal. The very center of the room was completely empty.

While Sarah and John took in their soundings, Cameron went over to the section to the right of theirs and began searching the panels along the wall. "Because once this thing sends us forward it's going to explode," Cameron explained as the other two joined her. "And while I'm sure that the police are on their way, there's a chance that this will attract Cromartie as well," Seeing the reaction this got from Sarah and John, Cameron quickly added, "But don't worry, I hope for us to be long gone by then."

"And if he gets here sooner than you think he will?" Sarah asks, "Or if this takes longer than than you thought?"

Cameron found the deposit box she was looking for. "Well in that case," Cameron curled her right hand into a fist, then hit the door panel with all her strength causing it to crumple into the box. She then withdrew three key rings from the box, each with about half a dozen keys on it. "We go to plan B," She handed two of the rings to Sarah and John and said, "Open these boxes and put everything you find on the table. _Carefully_."

Cameron, John, and Sarah walked to different areas of the room and started unlocking the deposit box doors and opening them to reveal various pieces of equipment. After several minutes most of the parts were gathered on one of the tables. Cameron opened the last box and withdrew a small clear vile with a translucent solution in it. John came over to stand next to her. "Is that from the future?" he asked.

"No," Cameron said walking carefully towards the table. "You can't bring anything through when you come. Weapons, clothing, your favorite Beanie Baby. Nothing," She picked up one of the other parts laying on the table and inserted the vile into it. She then turned a small knob on the side and held it up. "So you send someone back to build it." She turned another longer knob on the end and the solution turned yellow.

"What is it?" John asked.

Cameron shrugged. "You'll see," She spent the next few minutes assembling the various parts while Sarah and John watched. Suddenly they heard a crash outside as someone broke through the the building's glass door. Sarah and John turned to face the vault door.

"Is that the police," John asked.

"No," Cameron said absentmindedly as she continued to put the whatever she was building together. "You should probably stay away from the door."

"Why?"

Something slammed into the vault door causing a glass panel set into it to shatter. They could hear someone or something slowly riping the door apart. "Guess."

_Cromartie,_ Sarah thought. She turned and went over to stand next to Cameron. Looking at the now finished product she said, "That better be what I think it is."

Cameron held up the gun and offered it to Sarah who quickly took it. "It took an engineer eight months to scavenge the parts. When the isotope solution terns red you can fire," Cameron then turned and walked to the other end of the room, followed by John.

"Isotope?" Sarah said, then turned to look at Cameron. "Is this nuclear?"

"Ah, short answer no," Cameron answered over her shoulder. She took the last key and opened another panel, revealing some sort of device built into the wall. She hit a button on the side and the device scanned her eyes. After a moment two large panels below the first swung open to reveal a control panel and computer screen. While the screen appeared fairly advanced, looking at the control panel John had no problem believing that it had been built in the early sixties. Cameron quickly began entering commands into the keyboard, then stood back and watched as the computer started making the necessary calculations. Meanwhile Cromartie continued to disassemble the door.

The computer beeped and on the screen the words **Target Date 2007 ****Enabled** began flashing. At the same time Cromartie had managed to make a hole in the door large enough to stick his gun through and began firing blindly into the room causing Sarah and John try and get out of his line of fire. At least one of his bullets hit something that made the room go dark for a moment before the emergence lights came on.

"We're ready," Cameron yelled. "Once I activate this thing we're going to have to stand in the vary center of the room," Having ran out of bullets, Cromartie stopped shooting and went back to riping the door apart. After a moment his face came into view as he began to peel back the top right corner of the door.

"Do it," Sarah yelled. Looking at the gun she saw that the solution had turned red. Cameron immediately hit a large button and the words **execute** appeared on the screen. A moment later what looked like blue lightning began to appear, starting in the center of the ceiling and striking the ground in a way that formed a large circle. Cameron, Sarah, and John moved to stand in this circle as Cromartie ripped what was left of the door off of it's hinges and stepped into the room. Sarah raised the gun and fired at Cromartie, knocking him to his feet. He did not get up again. A sphere of blue energy begin to form around the two humans and the cyborg. There was a blinding flash of blue white light and they were gone. A moment later there was a another blinding flash of yellow light as the explosives hidden near the TDT interface and around the rest of the vault detonated destroying the room and most of the building.

**Tuesday, September 4 2007 (21:18)**

**Interstate Highway 5**

Micheal Higson was board. He and his family had spent the last forty minutes driving home from visiting relatives, a family outing he hadn't wanted to go on in the first place, and they had another two hours until they got home. It was nine o'clock and, as if things couldn't get any worse, there seamed to be some kind of problem up ahead. There were strange flashes of blue white light and a number of the cars ahead of them were swerving out of the way of something and coming to a stop.

Some kind of large semi translucent blue ball appeared in the road right in front of them causing Micheal's father to hit the brakes bringing their car to a sudden stop. There was a blinding burst of light and the ball was gone. All Micheal could see ahead of them now was slowly rising steam. He leaned forward between the two front seats to try and get a better look at what was going on. Suddenly a girl stood. A very naked girl. She looked like she was in her mid to late teens. _Maybe todays not so bad after all, _Micheal thought to himself. A moments later two other people also stood. Also naked. One was a boy about the same age as the girl. The other was a woman who looked to be middle age. Micheal quickly got out his phone, activated the built in camera, trained it on the girl, and started recording.

Cameron surveyed the scene before her. The three of them were naked, in the middle of a highway, at night. And they were naked and it was freezing. And they were naked. Cameron briefly considered trying to do something about that, but she couldn't think of anything so she decided to move on for the moment. About a foot in front of them was a car with three people in it. In the two front seats sat a man and a woman, both of whom appeared to be in their late thirties, early forties. Between them was a boy who looked to be in his mid teens, Cameron guessed that he was the other two's son. He was holding a rather small cellphone, or at least it looked small to Cameron, but then again she was about eight years behind.

Looking at the phone more closely Cameron noticed what she realized after a moment was a camera. He was taking pictures of her! _Pervert!_ Cameron muttered a few words under her breath.

Micheal was half way through recording when suddenly, for no apparent reason, his phone died.

"We should go," Cameron said. She grabbed John's arm and pulled him off the highway with her. They were followed by Sarah. Cameron led them through an opening in the barrier on the side of the road and down a hill onto another road with equipment on it. The three of them knelt down behind a bulldozer.

"Where are we?" Sarah asked.

Cameron looked around, then nodded at a sign.

**ROAD WORK**

**09-03-07**

**TO**

**09-24-07**

"Same where, different when," Cameron answered. As they knelt their John noticed the Cameron had several strange symbols tattooed onto the top of her right arm.

After a moment Cameron got up and walked over to an unblocked part of the road. After a few moments a car drove up and three men got out, all of them drunk. They walked up to Cameron while making a number of lewd comments about her. _You know, normally I'd fell bad about beating three guys up and taking there clothes and car, but I don't think it'll bother me much this time._ Cameron kicked the first man in the head knocking him to the ground, then grabbed the second man and threw him several feet. The final man made a clumsy attempt to attack her. Cameron sidestepped him and grabbed the front of his shirt. His momentum made it so that is feet and legs continued forward so that when Cameron let go of him he fell onto his back. The second man had gotten to his feet and made an attempt to rush her. Instead of trying to get out of his way Cameron raised her fist and hit him in the face. The third man had rolled over and gotten onto his hands and knees. Before he could finish getting up Cameron grabbed the collar of his shirt and punched him in the back of the head knocking him out. She released him letting his body fall to the ground. Cameron took a moment to make sure that all three of them were unconscious and would remain that way for the foreseeable future, then relieved them of there clothes and money. She then took all this to John and Sarah. She and Sarah got dressed on one side of the bulldozer, while John went to the other.

When they were all once again fully clothed John walked over to to his mother and Cameron. "So, this is where it all begins, where Skynet begins?" he said after a moment.

Cameron nodded. "Yeah, close enough."

"And nobody knows we're here?"

Cameron shook her head. "That's the general idea," She walked up to him. "Your safe. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"No one's ever safe," John and Sarah both said at the same time.

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Alright, saf_er. _Come on, I have a place where we can stay for the next few days."

"How?" Sarah asked. "We just jumped what, eight years into the future?"

Cameron shrugged. "I've gone longer then that between visits. Come on."

**22:48**

**Somewhere in the outskirts of Los Angeles**

After driving for almost an hour Cameron parked the car next an abandoned warehouse. "We should walk the last bit just to be safe, I don't want to park a stolen car next to our hideout," she said opening her door. The three of them got out of the car and walked several blocks until they came to a abandoned building surrounded by a chain link fence that looked just like any other. The gate was secured by a simple combination lock, which Cameron quickly undid. When they came to the building they found the main door unlocked. After Cameron opened this as well they walked into a large, dark room. Cameron flipped some switches next to the entrance and a few dim lights turned on. The room was empty except for a few crates. One of them was rather large and looked very heavy. It was attached to a metal chain that went up into the ceiling.

"Yeah, I can see why this place comes so highly recommended," Sarah said sarcastically. "And this is better than any of the other abandoned buildings we could have found _why_?"

"It's not abandoned," Cameron said. "I just like it to look like it is." She went over to a control panel on the side of the wall.

"What," John said following her, "you like, own this place?"

Cameron started entering security codes into the interface. "Technically, it's owned by Calormen Exports. But seeing as I made them up, yes, I own this place. And a dozen others just like it scattered around the globe," As she finished inputing her codes another part of the control panel lit up. Going over to it she entered a few commands. Suddenly the large crate began to move, being pulled upward by the chain until it was hanging about fifteen feet above the ground. Underneath it were two doors set into the floor. Cameron went over to them and lifted them up to reveal a ramp going down to a hidden sub-level with a few lights positioned on the walls, already on. Sarah and John slowly walked over to join her.

"Cool," John said after a moment.

"I believe you were saying something Sarah," Cameron said with a smirk.

"Alright, alright, I'm mildly impressed. Now are we just going to stand here all day or what?"

Cameron swept out her left arm motioning for Sarah and John to go down. Cameron joined them, then turned and closed the two doors down over them. After that she hit a button on the wall. A moment later they heard a sound above them as the crate was lowered back down onto the floor. "This button," she said indication the one she had just pushed, "will also raise the the box when you want to get out. I'll show you how to work that console up there later,"

They were standing in a short concrete corridor at the end of which was a large metal door. Next to it was a keypad and a metal box attached to the wall. Cameron went over to the door and entered a code into the keypad and a moment later there was a beeping sound. Cameron opened the box on the wall to reveal a large switch which John guessed was some kind of circuit breaker. Cameron pulled the switch down, then closed the box. She entered another code into the keypad and there was another beep, followed by a loud click, both coming from the door. Cameron pushed it open to a dim room the details of which Sarah and John could not make out. The three of them walked in and Cameron closed the door behind them plunging the room into total darkness. A moment later the lights came on as Cameron flipped several switches by the door.

They were standing in a large room with gray stone walls and several bright lamps hanging from the ceiling. Looking around Sarah and John saw that everything seemed to be covered in a layer of dust. In the center of the room there was a long table with several chairs grouped around it. To the right was a kitchen that was somewhat closed off from the rest of the room. Further along the right wall was an old metal door, with two others just like it set into the left wall. The far wall had seven smaller doors.

Cameron walked into the room, she was followed by the Connors. "The kitchen doesn't have much in it right now, just some military rations, the kind that you can leave siting around for thirty years," She went over to the door in the right wall and opened it. "I think you guys will like this," she said as the three of them went inside and she turned on the lights. They were in a storage room filled with racks of guns. John looked around and saw a number of weapons he recognized, and some he didn't. However, as he examined the contents of the room he began to notice a few strange items.

"Hey, are those crossbows and swords?" he asked pointing at the far wall.

"Au, yeah,"

"And this is...?" he picked up a wooden stake from the rack next to him. Cameron grabbed it from him and put it back with its fellows.

"Nothing," she snapped. "Leave that there!" she called out to Sarah, who was about to pick up a bottle of clear liquid. "That's nitroglycerin," she said as she went to stand next to the other woman.

"Doesn't look like 'glycerin," Sarah said.

"That's because there's a dye in it," This was a lie. Actually it was holy water, and Cameron was rather glad that none of the bottles had labels on them to advertise this. "Come on, lets go." She led Sarah and John out of room and over to the first door on the other side of the main room. She opened it to reveal a bank of computers set up on a table against the far wall. To the right were several filing cabinets, to the left several racks holding more computer equipment. John quickly went into the room, much more interested in its contents than his mother.

"I updated all of this just before going to Red Valley," Cameron said. "New computers and everything, this is all state of the art. Or at least it was eight years ago, probably dinosaurs by now."

"What's this stuff?" John said as he studied the racks of equipment.

"Additional hard drives and such. Basically in case I ever need the extra memory or processing power."

"Yes, very interesting," Sarah said, it was obvious by the tone of her voice that she found it anything but. She turned and left the room. Cameron followed her out and after a moment so did John. "So, what's behind door number three?" Sarah asked, pointing at the other door in the wall.

Cameron shrugged. "Storage closet. Some clothing, more of those rations, some other things and a bit of money."

"How much?" John asked.

"five thousand US, and the equivalent of about a third of that in Mexican Pesos and Canadian Dollars according to 1995 exchange rates."

"A _little_ bit of money?" John repeated incredulously.

Cameron shrugged. "As for these rooms over here," She led them over to the back wall. "Sleeping quarters. Except the last one on the right, that's the bathroom."

"Shower?" Sarah asked.

Cameron nodded. The three of them stood there for a moment before Cameron said, "Well, I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow."

"What," John asked. "You sleep?"

"In a way. I need to go into a sort of standby mode for seven to eight hours every seventy-two hours in order to regenerate my power cells."

"Oh," John said. "I didn't know you guys did that."

"Most terminators don't, in fact I'm probably the only one."

"Why," Sarah asked. "Were you damaged or something."

Cameron shook her head. "No my power systems are just different. Better, actually."

"Better?" John asked.

"Yes. The T-888 is powered by a small nuclear fusion generator which lasts for one hundred to one hundred forty years."

'And yours lasts..."

"Oh, it has a life of about seven thousand years."

"seven-_ seven thousand years._"

Cameron grinned. "Yeah. Suffice to say I could be around for a while. Well, assuming I don't manage to get myself blown up first. Anyway, I'm going to bed, the two of you should do the same. Neither of you has slept much the last few days. Besides, it's the middle of the night," With that she turned and went through the middle door.

John looked at his mother. "She's right, we should get some sleep. Night," He walked over to the second room on the left and disappeared inside, leaving Sarah to stand where she was. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the room for a moment, then walked over to the bathroom with thoughts of a shower.

**the end of **

**-Red Valley-**

**the story will continue in**

**CAMERON IMMORTAL**

**-The Turk-**


End file.
